Executive Power Brand ~ Deb Dib, The CEO Coach

Welcome CEOs, presidents, and rising stars!

2009-06-02T22:11:35-04:00

Want to land faster, earn more, have fun, and change the world?

You're in the right place! I invite you to read our latest CEO blog post for what you need to know NOW in CEO careers and to listen to a career-propelling message from me, Deb Dib (click the button below):

A message for very special $500K to $1M+ leaders.

Is this you?

Are you great at your job, but postpone career management until you have time for it? Do you think a recruiter will find your next assignment for you, with ease? Have you fallen into your last few positions, without a clear plan for career momentum? Do you find yourself...

... confused by job search and worried about today's contracting market?
... too pressed for time to network?
... not sure how to manage your career?
... baffled by Web 2.0, social networking, personal branding?
... in the dark about on-line identity?
... burned out, bored, and looking for who you were?
... unable to make your dream legacy happen?

Are you a visionary, gutsy, ethical corporate leader who wants the latest and best in personal branding, branded executive resumes and collaterals, on-line identity and job search techniques, and executive momentum coaching?

Do you want a dedicated CEO coach and career expert who values your individuality, your accomplishments, and your aspirations? Do you want a trusted adviser who invites you to become one of just a few very special clients? If so, you've found a home.

Executive Power Brand is unique among C-level career services.

That's because YOU are unique. Executive Power Brand is a individualized boutique career service, by choice. I selectively partner with not more than 24 executives each year to provide the elite, quality support that you deserve. We'll work one-on-one (with me, not a staffer), and we'll customize the process to work for you, your communication style, and your schedule.

You'll find me to be more than a CEO coach and career expert. I'm unabashedly enthusiastic, warm, and eager to learn about you. I'll be your biggest cheerleader, but I won't let you slide. In fact, my most important service just might be the "reality check" candor that is so often lacking at high levels.

Together, we'll identify your unique and marketable personal brand, tie that into powerful personal marketing documents, help you determine your best likely targets for personality and business fit, and deliver a powerful punch that soars your confidence and helps you achieve the results YOU want!

In a Deb Dib / C-suite career partnership you can...

... Recession-proof your career
... Accelerate your search and your effectiveness
... Command more compensation (often up to 50% higher)
... Have opportunities and recruiters come to you
... Work from a position of power and visibility, every day
... Build a legacy of contribution and change
... Have control of your career and fun in your life

Executive Power Brand is not for everyone. Is it right for you?

The Deb Dib process is intense, months long, and requires an investment of time and effort. It's also invigorating, fun, and often life-changing. If you're not ready to invest significant time, effort, and resources in your career, we won't be a fit.

BUT if you are ready to commit to the process, I know the C-level branding and executive job search strategies, tactics, and resources that will make the difference in your success, and I make sure you get them right. More than that, I track the trends and keep you at the cutting edge of what's happening NOW in the executive career space and executive Web 2.0.

YOU are my priority. I want you to succeed, to love your job, earn what you deserve, AND do something special, whatever that thing is that you were born to do! My clients tell me that I'm the best investment they've made in their careers. Me, I'm honored to have worked with such dedicated, gutsy, fun, world-changing trailblazers. I love my job!

If you'd like to get started, let's go over to the contact page and make it happen. I'll meet you there!

Deb

Learn more about me, Deb Dib
Learn more about my Executive Power Programs for C-level Branding, CEO Resumes, Executive Resumes, Executive Job Search, Web 2.0 Online Identity, and CEO Career Management.

Ten Tips for Executive Rebranding to Win in Volatile Markets

2009-03-14T10:55:32-04:00

The market as changed - fast - thoroughly - like an earthquake.
This seismic shift has left even the most accomplished top talent feeling a bit lost in the present and thoroughly uneasy about the future.
In this volatile climate it's tempting to change who you are - to meet what you think the market needs - so you can protect your current job or secure a new position.
But changing your personal brand is a "no can do" – it’s intrinsically who you are!

However, you can change your executive brand - what you are known for; what your personal brand looks like when you take it to work - and the perceived value attached to that executive brand.
To retool your executive brand you need clarity, passion, and focus.
Clarity is about the market and your brand - what the market needs now and what in your executive tool kit of ROI contribution intersects with that need.
Researching the market and new paradigms in business is hard - but once you have that clarity passion is inevitable because you'll be in your zone, in your sweet spot.
Focus is about staying on your new course every day and doing what needs to be done to build your new executive brand presence.

Here are ten "Deb Dib" rules for rebranding to win in volatile markets...

1. Do the homework you need to do to know what the market needs, how you can help, and what you now want to be known for.

2. Make sure your new executive brand value is comfortable and authentic to you.

3. Make sure it's valuable to an employer and/or market. Make sure you can prove the ROI of your executive brand through stories of previous accomplishments.

4. Try and be as niched (specialized) as possible to increase your value. Scarcity value sells!

5. Get passionate about evangelizing your new message. If you can’t be passionate about it you may not yet have reached the clarity of a deeply visceral and valuable brand - keep working for that “eureka” feeling that tells you you’re there.

6. Create a strategic plan and time line for maximizing your exposure as your new brand. If you are employed, don't forget that you need to do this within your company as well as in the marketplace.
7. Don’t forget to include re-building or establishing your new branded on-line presence via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Namz, VisualCV, etc.

8. Make all decisions brand decisions – ask yourself, “Is the answer on brand or not?” “Will this decision strengthen my brand presence, or weaken it?”

9. Have very good reasons for doing something that is off-brand. A muddy brand dilutes rather than strengthens. A muddy brand confuses and erodes confidence – your own and that of the marketplace.

10. Educate your "personal board of directors" as to your new direction - get some passionate advocates working with you.

Bonus tip: Give to get - be open and generous with “on brand” knowledge and help – the "career karma" William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson talk about in Career Distinction doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Bonus rule: Embrace the knowledge that building, strengthening, and refining an authentic and valuable executive brand never ends - it's an evolving and exciting continuum that helps you land faster, earn more, have fun, and even change the world a bit!

Are You Attracting Digital Dirt or Digital Desire? Here's How to Find Out.

2008-09-30T11:03:02-04:00

With today's virtually unlimited public access to a deep-dive of digital information about you, you MUST know what you look like on-line.

What are people saying about you? If you are a successful executive (or just about anyone), employers, recruiters, board members, the media, and even your friends and family will Google you.

What will they find? Good, bad, or indifferent, you want to know. Knowledge is power -- power that will enable you to leverage what's positive and mitigate what's problematic.

Visit Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog for a list of 5 free, must-use tools to help you track and manage your on-line (and off-line) reputation.

Fifteen Tips Executives Need to Know NOW to Make a Career Transition in a Volatile Market

2008-09-27T21:44:35-04:00

1. Start with the known -- If you've been laid off, excessed in a merger, or just want out of your current field it often helps to pursue companies, industries, and functions that have some connection to your field. These are often the most productive targets. Examples might be healthcare to biomediclal; teaching to educational sales; consumer products brand management to B2B marketing; banking to corporate finance; engineering to green technologies; software development to new media.

2. Seek growing fields -- New, growing, and emerging fields like green technologies, clean energy, social media, and others, will have fewer job applicants trained in those precise areas. They are looking for the best, but know that the best will often have to come from somewhere else. If your value and experience speaks to their needs, your transition is assured. But it's your job to build the bridge to them and make your case. Barbara Safani's Career Solvers research department can help you with comprehensive job search research services. Mark Hovind's Job Bait site has terrific stats on employment and market trends by industry and region.

3. Leverage volatility -- When mass layoffs occur, smaller companies that could not compete for top-talent rush into to fill the gap and gobble up superior performers. If you are laid off, don't limit your search to your industry or function, an unrealistic salary, or a geographic location. This is the time that companies are thinking creatively and are more open to speaking with "non-traditional" hires with a great track record. And they will be directing their recruiters to do so too.

4. Concentrate on unique transferable value -- A transition (indeed any hire) depends on value not skills. Determine the value you bring -- value that transcends the boundaries of industry or function and underlies all your successes. Examples might be an ability to 1) consistently deliver growth no matter what the circumstances, 2) always find the one thing within an already good process that make s it deliver even more productivity or revenue, or 3) motivate a team to gel and excel in difficult circumstances.
5. Begin before you need to -- Lay a foundation -- do not wait until you lose your job or are so burnt out that you quit. Do your research; use social networking tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Visual CV, or a customized electronic portfolio and/or blog (done in partnership with an on-line identity expert like Kirsten Dixson) to build visibility around your value proposition and emerging thought leadership in your targeted field. Write a blog and articles, attend industry events, make connections with movers and shakers, do field research by speaking with those doing the work you want to do, learn the industry trends and buzzwords that will make you seem like a "local" not a "tourist." When you decide to make your move, you'll be known, have a targeted Google presence, a robust network, and "walk the talk."

6. Jump-start your search -- If you lose your job, you need to act FAST. Don't be tempted to use the first few weeks (or months) of your unemployment as unexpected vacation time. Get busy and build your branded value proposition, PR engine, and research machine ASAP. It's vital to your search and the positive activity will help with the array of emotions related to job loss. A career coach and/or resume professional can often be your best investment during this time -- there is huge ROI in having a careers professional help you determine value, articulate a strong branded value proposition, develop stellar career documents, and guide you in the most effective job search techniques. If budget will not allow retaining a professional, read Susan Whitcomb's "Magic" series of books on resumes, interviewing, and job search (Resume Magic, Interview Magic, Job Search Magic).

7. Create employer desire -- Don't assume a decision maker will immediately understand how your value will translate to the company. Do the work to discover the company's (and industry's) trends and needs. Using that information, project impact with value-driven accomplishment stories and value-driven solutions that predict success and translate directly to the bottom-line.

8. Don't spend all your time on-line -- It's easy to be sucked into a black hole of job boards and research. It's easy to hope that the more places you post your resume the more activity you will attract. Use technology and social networking sites as people connectors, not as substitutes for real relationship-building. Relationships drive productive job search, especially in transitions. People are your best sources of information, best advocates for your success, best connection to positive energy, and best way for you to "give back," too. A robust career management tool like JibberJobber can help you manage your growing list of contacts and activities.

9. Don't rely on your resume -- Transitions are a "pavement pounding" exercise. Your resume will be populated with information tied to your old field. It will not attract attention on the job boards and employer or recruiter databases because the key words they seek will not be there. Build your resume to be a concise impact- and value-driven sales tool that builds a future forward case for success by connecting the dots of your old accomplishments to new advantage for your target company. Then work your network -- and even phone/mail cold calling (using that strong value proposition and company knowledge) -- to get that resume in the hands of a real person and to get face-time with decision makers. Read Jeffrey Fox' How to Land Your Dream Job: No Resume! And Other Secrets to Get You in the Door, for more on these techniques.

10. Develop a suite of value-driven career collaterals -- Today's job search and career management experts know that new opportunities come not from on-line job sites, but from the building of an on-line presence, a meetup at a professional event, a call from a recruiter who discovered you, a contact, or even an article that spawned some good PR. Each of these situations requires different personal marketing materials. At a minimum, today's jobseeker or career-savvy executive needs a targeted resume, accomplishments brief, executive biography and micro bios for articles and speaking gigs, 30 second elevator pitches for different targets, executive value statement and branded tagline, a brief list of top "selling points," and a list of company research sites and contacts. JibberJobber can help you keep all of these documents sorted and in one place.

11. Do the job to get the job -- When you land your interview, don't be a passive interviewee. After your initial conversation drop the theory, drop the past accomplishments, and get real to get the job. Drive the interview to a place where you can show your stuff. Ask questions about problems, needs, and issues. Then initiate a brainstorming session that allows you to show how you can think on your feet, deliver solutions, and create opportunity. You don't have to give away your "trade secrets" but you can allow the interviewers to sample your value and style in a very concrete way. Subscribe to Nick Corcodilos' Ask The Headhunter newsletter for more on these techniques.

12. Stay connected and educated -- Isolation lets job-loss depression and inertia sneak in the door. It saps your energy. Fight it! Keep in touch with colleagues, attend networking events and professional meetings (focusing on what you have to offer, not just what you need), have breakfast and lunch meetings with new contacts and old friends. Attend professional development classes in your area of expertise, find education leading to certification in your new field of interest, teach a class in a local college. The connection with people and knowledge is a powerful stimulant for success.

13. Be prepared to wait -- Career transitions, especially in volatile markets, are a longer job search. If your field is shrinking, if there are mass layoffs, if you are looking for a second career as you near retirement, if you are seeking an upper executive position, your search will likely be extended. Plan for it by creating a flow chart of planned job search activities and by getting your finances in order so that you can make your resources last. Knowing that you are prepared and protected will keep you focused and on-task as the weeks and months pass. And if you are fortunate to find a new position quickly, you'll appreciate it even more.

14. Don't put all your eggs in one basket -- Job search in a market flooded with candidates is a "we want 125% fit because we think we can get it and we're not in a rush to hire" environment. Even top performers experience post-interview difficulty getting an answer as to why the process is taking so long, or if they are on the short list, or even if the position will be filled. Don't put your search on hold while waiting for the offer you are sure is coming. Even if you think the job is a sure thing after a great interview, in this market, there's a real chance it isn't.

15. Don't look for a job -- Conventional wisdom says the time to look for a job is when you start your new job. Today's wisdom says the time to look for a new job is never. Use the above tips to transition to the job you need now, and concurrently begin to engage in active career management -- career management that relies on value, continuous learning, proactive positioning, and generous "give to get" networking. Over time you will become visible, viable, and valuable. You will be the hunted, not the hunter. Opportunities will come to you. Your biggest challenge will be deciding which one you want.

CEOs and LinkedIn: Just do it!

2008-06-27T13:43:31-04:00

Before you read this post, if you're not yet on LinkedIn, get over whatever uneasiness you have and get on it.

You need to be there. If you are not, the people you need to know (recruiters, potential employers, potential vendors, prospects etc) will think it's weird that you're not.

Can you imagine not showing up in Google? (I do hope you show up in Google!). Can you imagine your company not showing up on Google? If you don't show up on LinkedIn, that's just about as bad.

If you are reluctant to appear on LinkedIn because you are a CEO, you're not alone.

I've had CEOs tell me they shouldn't be on LinkedIn because it opens them up to far too much unwelcome contact. Well, when you are between assignments every few years (CEO tenures are running between 2 and 4 years on average), you'll wish you had some of that contact! The time to build your LinkedIn network (and your employment brand/company brand presence) is now, not later.

THE expert on LinkedIn and how to work it to your advantage is Jason Alba, author of I'm on LinkedIn, Now What?? and founder of the JibberJobber Career Toolset (In my opinion it's the best career CRM for CEOs and other execs). The book and companion blog are the most practical, fast-read guides I've found for CEOs to understand and embrace the power of LinkedIn.

Jason recently wrote a very useful post on LinkedIn recommendation protocol. It's a must-read if you want to use LinkedIn recommendations (believe me, you do) to build or enhance your C-level/executive credibility/brand and demo your value.

If you're in the C-suite (or heading that way) and have already used LinkedIn, LinkedIn recommendations, and/or LinkedIn questions as a career tool, how have they helped? I'd love to hear your experiences and successes.